Knitting machine



Aug. 16, 1938. k LOMBARDI 2,127,224

KNITTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1955 Aug. 16, 193 8. 1 v; LOMBARDI 2,127,224

KNITTING MACHINE Wlmfiard BY WM 20 7442414 ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 16, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC KNITTING MACHINE.

Application April 25, 1935, Serial No. 18,091

11 Claims.

This invention relates to knitting machines and more particularly to knitting machine constructions utilizing pattern wheels and similar rotatable pattern elements.

An object of the invention is the provision of a simple and sturdy mechanism of an improved type whereby design fabrics may be readily produced.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved means whereby a high degree of selectivity may be obtained by a pattern wheel construction.

A further object is the provision of means whereby a series of similar needles or other knitting elements may be effectively and efficiently operated with a high degree of selectivity.

Another object is to provide means whereby knitting elements may have movements of an extraordinary extent imparted thereto by a pattern wheel.

Still another object is the provision of improved means for driving a pattern wheel.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of one form of knitting machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 2a is an enlarged detail view looking from the needle bed illustrating the pattern wheel construction;

Fig. 3 is a detail view showing a knitting element engaged by an actuator in one row;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a knitting element engaged by an actuator in another row;

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing a knitting element unengaged by an actuation in either row;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating a somewhat modified form of pattern wheel;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating a modified construction;

Fig. 8 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 9 is a somewhat diagrammatic showing of a manner of operation of the construction illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Figs. 1 and 7, showing still another modification; and

Fig. 11 is a side view of a slightly modified construction,

In the production of design fabricsfor instance, interlock fabric such for example as described in my Patent No. 1,541,230, fabric embodying tuck stitches, Welt stitch fabric, etc.,by mechanism wherein needles are disposed in three or more positions at the time a yarn is fed, it has long been recognized that, because of tendencies toward bending and breakage, inaccuracies in operation, and other factors, the use of needles having different length butts and the use of selecting cams are undesirable. Various constructions for avoiding these drawbacks have been suggested, but such constructions have, for the most part, been cumbersome in operation, complicated in construction, or expensive to manufacture or operate, or have been subject to limitations such that they were not adapted for a wide field of utility.

With the foregoing and other difliculties in mind, the present invention contemplates the provision of exceedingly simple and highly effective means whereby needles may with ease and certainty be selectively disposed in three or more positions,such, for instance, as a position. in which a needle will receive a yarn and knit, a position in which it will receive a yarn without knitting, and a position in which it will pass a yarn,as desired for the production of a particular design being produced; or so that needles or other knitting elements may with ease and certainty be disposed in three or more positions for other purposes.

In accordance with the invention there is pro- .vided a rotary pattern unit, which may be of pattern wheel construction, so formed that it will operate on needles or other knitting elements of similar character in a desired manner for the production of a design fabric without interposition of other selecting means.

Again, the provision of a pattern wheel which vwill impart an extended movement of a knitting element has also long been sought, but in spite of the well recognized need for such pattern wheels the ordinary pattern wheel having an angularity of only about 22 degrees is still in general use. In accordance with the invention, however, a pattern wheel having any desired angularity and adapted to impart movements of an extraordinary extent to a knitting element, may be readily provided.

While the invention is exemplified as embodied in a circular knitting machine having a stationary needle cylinder which carries an annular series of latch needles, it will be understood that the bed on which the knitting elements are carried may be of any desired shape or form and may be stationary or movable as desired, and that the knitting elements may bein the form of latch needles, beard needles, jacks, sinkers, or yarn controllers, or may be of any other well known or suitable type. If the bed is stationary, there may be provided actuator mechanism which is movable about or along it; whereas, if it is movable, the actuator mechanism may be stationary.

The knitting machine exemplified in Fig.1, comprises a needle cylinder l2, formed with annuwhich there may be carried a desired number of yarn feeds, aligning cams such as stitch cams and/or restoring cams, and other usual or suitableelements, and also a suitable number of pattern wheel units I8. I

Each pattern wheel unit I8 is formed with an upper row IQ of configurations and a lower row 20 of configurations, each row including portions adapted to act selectively on the butts of the needles. The rows of configurations are provided, in the form of construction exemplified in Figs. 1 thru 5, by selectively disposing, in two peripheral, axially disposed, rows of radial slots 2| at the periphery of pattern wheel, actuator members 22. The slots are formed by radially extending teeth 22a, providing a construction adapted to mesh with the buttslfi of the needles M. The outer ends of the actuator members terminate inside of' the outer portions of the slots and beneath the upper portion thereof so as not to interfere with the meshing action by which the pattern wheel is driven.

In order to prevent binding of the butts or other parts of the needles which are engaged, the slotted portions are preferably, in accordance with the invention, made wider than the butts or other engaged parts, and are separated by a cut-away portion 23, and in the form of construction exemplified in Figs. 1 thru 5, each slot in the lower row is staggered slightly beyond the corresponding slot in the upper row in the direction in which the pattern unit engages successive needles, in the manner shown in detail in Fig. 2a. This arrangement permits the needle butt to move freely during its relative downward movement-through the slots without binding and without frictional action dueto the combined angular and rotative movement of the pattern wheel. If desired, the sides of the slots may be continuous, and still accomplish the same purpose if curved somewhat, but the illustrated construction is much simpler to cut.

As will be apparent from Fig. 1, when an actuator 22 is in a slot of the upper row it will engage the under side of a butt of a needlesoon after its slot has received this butt and willexert an advancing action on the needle throughout an extended portion of the pattern wheel movement, so that when the slot leaves the butt the needle will have been raisedto level A (which may be a knitting level). When an actuator 22 is in a slot of the lower row, and no actuator is in the slot above it, the butt I6 will not be engaged by the actuator for a considerable time after the butt has been received by the slot and the needle willonly be raised to level B (which may be a When there is no actuator in slots, the butt will never be engaged and the needle will not be raised, but will remain at level C (which may be a level at which'no yarn is received) The operation of the actuators on the needles tance as indicated by the arrow.

.vanced a needle to the position shown in Fig. 3,

further dis- As shown in Fig. 4, an actuator in the lower slot will be just in engagement with the butt ready to advance it a distance indicated by the arrow in this figure. As shown in Fig; 5, the butt will be engaged by no actuator and will pass through the slot with out being moved at all.

In order to produce a welt stitch in a portion of the fabric, it is only necessary to provide a plurality of actuators in contiguous slots in a part of the upper row of one pattern wheel as shown at a and to provide actuators in alternate or otherwise spaced slots in a part of the lower row of a preceding and/or succeeding pattern wheel which will actuate the same needles. In order to produce interlock fabric a plurality of actuators may be disposed in contiguous slots in the upper row of one pattern wheel, as shown at a, and a plurality of actuators disposed in a contiguous portion of the same pattern wheel, but in the lower row, in alternate or otherwise spaced slots as shown at b; while on a preceding and/or succeeding pattern wheel actuators are disposed in alternate or' otherwise spaced slots in a part of the lower row which will act on the same needles as were controlled by the actuators at a, and a plurality of actuators disposed in contiguous slots and will still advance the needle a 'in a portion of the upper row whichwill act on the same needles as were controlled by the actuators at b. Tuck stitches or other stitches, and a wide variety of other design effects may likewise be produced by variations in the settings of the actuators, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Desirably the actuators are removably held in the slots to permit ready resetting when a different type of design fabric is to be produced. To this end the slots are closed by upper and lower plates 25 and 26 respectively, which are removable from the body of the pattern wheel upon the unscrewing of screws 21. 1. Similarly, whether or not slots are utilized, it has been found desirable to dispose the actuator portions in a lower row somewhat forwardly of the position in which actuator portions would be in an upper row, in that direction in which the pattern unit engages successive needles, so that a positive engagement of the needle butts or other engaged part will be assured in spite of the change in effective position of the pattern wheel parts. 1 As will be seen, each butt is of suflicient'extent so that it will have entered a lower slot before it moves'out of the upper slot. If desired, however, slots may be provided in only one row, and

the actuators may be utilized without slots on the remaining row or rows. The reception of the butts by the slots in the slotted row or rows is ordinarily'suflicient to drive the pattern wheel, but if desired the shank of the needle may be widened to mesh with the slots. In Fig. 6 there is illustrated a construction wherein'theupper row is slotted and wherein the lower row is provided with actuators but with no butt-receiving slots, and wherein the shanks of the needles are widened at 28 to mesh with particular effectiveness with the teeth 22a forming the slots in the upper row in the present instance. As will be seen, the teeth in the lower row are omitted, so

that whereas both the actuators 22 and the teeth in the upper row contact portions of the needles l4, no elements in the lower row except the actuators 22 will contact the needles.

In accordance with the invention, various rows of configurations on a rotatable pattern unit may act to move the needles or other knitting elements in different directions as well as to different extents in the same direction. In Figs. 7 and 8 there is shown a pair of pattern wheels, one providing a row of configurations for raising the needles and another providing a row of configurations for lowering the needles. In this embodiment of the invention there is provided a needle bed I2a formed with slots |3a carrying needles Ma. As a needle is provided with an upper butt 30 and a lower butt 3! the rotatable pattern unit comprises a pattern wheel element 32 having upward angularity and provided with a row 33 of configurations which may be similar to the configurations in the upper row of the pattern wheel unit l8, as illustrated, or may be otherwise arranged as desired and a pattern wheel element 34 having downward angularity and provided with a row 35 of configurations wherein the actuators may be disposed, as illustrated, only in those slots which in the pattern wheel unit l8 hold no actuators in either the upper or the lower row, or may be otherwise arranged as desired. As will be apparent, when a butt 3!] is received by a slot 21a of the row 33 it maybe engaged by an actuator therein and advanced or may be passed if no actuator is in the slot. When a butt 3| is received in a slot Zla of the lower row of configurations the needle will be retracted if an actuator 22a is-in the slot or may be passed if no actuator is in the slot. Obviously actuators should not be placed in corresponding slots in both the upper and lower rows. It is accordingly a simple matter to dispose the needles at three levels. When an actuator is in an upper slot a needle will be moved upward from level B to level A; when an actuator is in a slot of the lower row the needle will be moved from level B to level C; whereas when actuator is in neither of a pair of corresponding slots the needle will remain in level B. In this manner a setting of needles as shown in Fig. 9, or any desired setting of needles may be readily attained. Whereas in Fig. 1 the needles will already have been aligned in the proper position by the usual stitch cam or restoring cam, in Figs. '7 and 8 it is desirable that the alignment be at the level B, which in the case oi latch needles will be the tucking level, and this is efiectuated by means of a cam 36.

While pattern wheel elements may be entirely independent they act, and are considered herein, as -a unit; and desirably they are provided with inter-meshing gears 31 and 38, so as to assure that the corresponding slots will not get out of alignment. Moreover, while the pattern wheel elements 32 and 34 are illustrated as being formed with slots which mesh with the butts, such slots may be omitted at one or the other row, or may be omitted entirely, and the rotatable pattern unit driven by an external gear in a manner such as hereinafter exemplified or in other suitable manner. As exemplified there is provided a construction wherein the assurance of meshing of the slots with the needles is had in a particularly positive manner by the widening of the shank of the needle as indicated at 39 so that the shank will mesh with the slots of the lower row while the needles are being actuated by actuators in that row, and so that the shank will be engaged by the slots of the upper row with an actuator while that row is acting. The shank may be similarly widened above the butt 30 or below the butt 3|, if desired. As will be readily understood a positioning of the needles at a number of additional levels may readily be attained, as for instance by substituting a patttern wheel construction of the type shown at l8 for one or both of the members 33 or 35.

While arrangements such as above exemplified permit the utilization of a pattern wheel having a considerably greater angularity with respect to the line of relative movement of the bed of the pattern wheel than is ordinarily the case, the invention contemplates the provision of a construction such that the pattern wheel may be disposed at any desired angle. A simple form of such construction is exemplified by the construction shown in Fig. 10 wherein there is provided a needle bed I21) carrying needles Mb formed with butts lfib and adapted to be selectively actuated by a pattern wheel 59 carrying at its periphery a plurality of selectively disposed actuators 2'21) held in slots 4| which terminate short of the needle butts. Removal of the actuators for resetting is permitted by the provision of a removable plate 42. Since the pattern wheel is provided with no needle-engaging slots, the amount of angularity is not limited by any tendency of the butts to bind in the slots. However, the pattern wheel will not be driven by the needles and in order to drive the pattern wheel it is provided with a bevel gear 43 meshing with a bevel gear 44 keyed to a shaft 45. Also keyed to this shaft is a helical gear 46 which rolls on an annular helical gear 41 which is fixed to the needle bed. The pattern wheel is thus positively driven by sturdy and simple means.

It is apparent that the angularity of the pattern wheel and the consequent extent of movement of the needles or other knitting elements by the pattern wheel, is dependent only upon the pitch of the gears 43 and 44, and that accordingly any desired angularity or extent of movement is permitted.

The construction shown in Fig. 11 is generally similar to that shown in Fig. 10, the various parts being indicated by similar reference numerals with the subscript c. In this case, however, the pattern wheel Me has two rows of actuators 220, which may be arranged similarly to the actuators in Figs. 1 and 2, but which are held in slots which terminate short of the butts.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A knitting machine comprising a bed, actuator mechanism, said bed and said actuator mechanism being mounted for relative movement, a series of knitting elements slidably carried on said bed, and a rotatable pattern unit forming a part of said actuator mechanism, said rotatable pattern unit comprising a plurality of rows of configurations having a similar angular disposition and each including selectively disposed knitting-element-engaging portions, each portion in a less advanced row being disposed somewhat forwardly in the direction in which the pattern unit engages successive knitting elements of the position in which it would be placed in a more advanced row to engage the same knitting element that it is adapted to engage.

2. A knitting machine comprising a bed, actuator mechanism, said bed and said actuator mechanism being mounted for relative movement, a series of knitting elements slidably carried on said bed, and a rotatable pattern unit forming a part of said actuator mechanism, said rotatable pattern unit comprising a plurality of angularly disposed rows of slots adapted to mesh with a part of the knitting elements and actuators selectively disposed therein for imparting sliding movements of difierent extents to selected ones of the knit ting elements depending on the row in which an actuator is placed, each slot portion in a less advanced row being disposed somewhat forwardly of the corresponding slot portion in a more advanced row in the direction in which the pattern unit engages successive knitting elements.

3. A knitting machine comprising a bed, actuator mechanism, said bed and said actuator mechanism being mounted for relative movement, a series of knitting elements slidably carried on said bed and having parts adapted to be engaged by knitting-element-engaging portions on a rotatable pattern unit, and a rotatable pattern unit forming part of said actuating mechanism, said rotatable pattern unit comprising a plurality of angularly disposed rows of configurations including selectively disposed knitting-element-engaging portions each adapted to impart sliding movement to a knitting element in accordance with the positioning of its row, said pattern unit being formed at one of said rows with projecting means for meshing with said parts of the knitting elements to drive said pattern unit, and said pattern unit being so formed at another row as to have no projecting means at positions alined with at least a portion of the aforesaid projecting means.

4. A knitting machine comprising a bed, actuator mechanism, said bed and said actuator mechanism being mounted for relative movement, a series of knitting elements slidably carried on said bed, and a rotatable pattern unit forming part of said actuating mechanism, said rotatable pattern unit comprising a plurality of angularly disposed rows of configurations including selectively disposed knitting-elemcut-engaging portions each adapted to impart sliding movement to a knitting element in accordance with the positioning of its row, means on said rotatable pattern unit at one of said rows and adapted to mesh with portions of said knitting elements, said rotatable pattern unit being so formed that no part thereof except said knitting-elementengaging portions will contact said knitting elements at at least one of said rows.

5. A knitting machine comprising a bed, actuator mechanism, said bed and said actuator mechanism being mounted for relative movement, a series of knitting elements slidably carried on said bed and having parts adapted to be engaged by knltting-element-engaging portions on a pattern wheel, and a pattern wheel forming part of said actuator mechanism and comprising a plurality of rows of configurations having a similar oblique disposition and including selectively disposed knitting-element-engaging portions, and slotted means independent of at least one of said rows for meshing with'said parts of the knitting elements, there being no such slotted means at at least one of such rows.

6. A knitting machine comprising a bed, actuator mechanism, said bed and said actuator mechanism being mounted for relative movement, a series of knitting elements slidably carried on said bed, and a rotatable pattern unit forming part of said actuator mechanism, said rotatable pattern unit comprising a plurality of rows of configurations having a similar angular disposition and each including selectively-disposed knitting-element-engaging portions, means at only one of said rows for meshing with portions of said knitting elements, said knitting elements being formed with longitudinally-extending widened portions for meshing with said meshing means over an extended distance longitudinally of said knitting elements.

'7. A rotatable pattern wheel for knitting machines comprising a plurality of oblique rows of selectively disposed knitting-element-engaging portions, such portions being omitted in a more advanced row at least at those points where such a portion in a less advanced row is to act, and each portion in a less advanced-row being disposed somewhat forwardly of the position in which it Would be placed in a more advanced row to engage the same knitting element that it is adapted to engage.

8. A rotatable pattern wheel for knitting machines comprising a plurality of oblique rows of slots with actuators selectively disposed therein for engagement with knitting elements, each slot portion in .a less advanced row being disposed somewhat forwardly of the corresponding slot portion in a more advanced row.

9. A rotatable pattern wheel for knitting machines, comprising a plurality of oblique rows of selectively disposed knitting-element-engaging portions, such portions being variously positioned in the Various ones of said rows, said pattern wheel being formed at only one of said rows with projecting teeth adapted to mesh with knittingelement portions to drive the pattern wheel, such teeth being omitted at the other of said rows. 7

10. A rotatable pattern Wheel for knitting machines, comprising a plurality of oblique rows of actuator-receiving portions, actuator elements selectively and removably disposed at various points in each of said rows and extending radially of said wheel atthe periphery thereof, and radially-extending teeth at the periphery of one of said rows but not at the other of said rows, said teeth being adapted to mesh with knitting-element portions to drive the pattern wheel. I

11. A knitting machine comprising a bed, a series of knitting elements mounted for movement on said bed, and an oblique pattern wheel arranged to selectively actuate said knitting elements and comprising a plurality of oblique rows of selectively disposed knitting-element-actuating portions, said pattern wheel being formed at one of said rows with teeth adapted to mesh with portions of the knitting elements to drive the wheel and to provide slots in'which said actuating portions are disposed, and said pattern wheel having no such teeth at the other of said rows.

VINCENT LOMBARDI. 

